By: Ashley McCubbin

MARKHAM, Ontario —- While admitting the season has been going well in showing speed with four top-10’s across the 10 NASCAR Canada Series races this far, there has been another side to Alex Tagliani’s season.

There have been other results left on the table through those events, as a result of a combination of mechanical failures and crashes.

“We’ re running at the front – a couple of misfortune but other than that, we cannot complain,” he told News From The Pits. “We just need to be a bit more lucky in places, but as long as we’re running at the front, we can’t complain.”

Fortunately, Tagliani had the weekend at Calabogie Motorsport Park with everything coming together, pacing 36 of the 50 laps en route to scoring the victory.

“It was a big deal because obviously after Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park) last lap, leading the race going for the win, and finishing with nothing,” he commented. “We ended up having two months of repair on that car because it was evidently it, so going into Calabogie, it was two months of waiting and stress, not knowing if the car was going to be up to par after all the repairs.

“Finally, the win at Calabogie was – you could have seen the emotions. Everybody was crying in the team just from having left. Mosport with so much wait in between the races and finally getting the win that the team deserve after Mosport was just the perfect timing.”

The sentiments were echoed by his car owner Donald Theetge, in saying it was satisfying for everyone to have the success.

“When you win a race, you can tell that you did the job,” he shared. “The team, the car, the driver, everything’s got to be ready, and you know, it’s an honor to win in this series, and every race if you can finish on podium, that’s all the same thing. The series is very competitive. So be on a podium, every race, that’s a great opportunity to make some points. The series is very tight when you look at the practice and qualifying times. It’s very close, so you gotta be right on the edge to be fast and have a good car.”

Taglani will new embark a new challenge, with the inaugural Markham 125 on the streets of Markham as the Honda Ontario Dealers Indy at Markham weekend.

“I mean, it’s a privilege for a racer to be able to race in Canada on a street course,” he shared. “The radical series is here, showcasing their car, and NASCAR Canada, has this platform to race. We cannot ask for more. I think it’s amazing and I’m looking forward to it. I love street courses. I think it’s super challenging, and I really can’t wait to go see the track and get on with it.”

Tagliani has dealt with his own challenges already this season, though, balancing the season between a pair of race teams in spending the road courses racing for Donald Theetge, while doing the ovals for Ed Hakinson Racing.

“It was fun to get back on the ovals with (Jason) Hathaway,” Tagliani commented. “I feel that the new tires have created a bit of a unknown and we’ve been searching for the right setup. We have had some splash of performance, especially in Montgemy. We had a car that was capable of finishing in the top-three, but the race got cut short. There have been a few places where we missed it.”